Sunday, February 19, 2006

Click!

When I awoke this morning Andrew was playing a video game on 'his' computer. All the computers in this house are 'public'; that means that they're all in the living area. Andrew doesn't get to have a computer in his room. I'm sure you can work out why.

So there he was, playing his video game. Soundtrack blaring complete with simulated explosions and mood music. As I sipped my coffee I hinted that perhaps he could use his headphones. I didn't really want to hear his soundtrack as I'm going through my daily website list. He didn't take the hint.

A few minutes later I selected a CD and stuck it in the CD/DVD drive. Kurt Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny[^] as it happens. I have both CD recordings listed and one of these decades I'll get around to ordering the performance on DVD. Toward the end of 1999 the ABC in Australia ran the video production late on a Friday evening; I was watching but I was scheduled to run a trivia game[^] maybe 15 minutes before it ended. I went online to beg my players to give me just a few minutes more; they were coming up to the execution scene and I didn't want to miss it!

To be honest, the opera is an aquired taste, which is exactly why I chose it. He stuck it out until they started singing about the 'city of nets' and put his headphones on. If he'll meet me halfway I'll meet him halfway, so I stuck my own headphones on and bopped away. Good music!

My wife just sat there smiling quietly to herself.

Later in the afternoon Andrew emerged to continue playing his game. Up came the sound and I said 'my dear? I'm feeling the need to listen to some more opera!'.